The Horror of the Human
Bomb-Delivery System

By

Daniel Ford

Updated Sept. 10, 2002 12:01 a.m. ET

America met suicide bombers in October 1944, while liberating the Philippines. Even in the carnage of World War II, the shock was terrible for the sailors who saw Japanese planes plunging into their ships. Of 1,200 kamikaze (the word means "god wind") sent against the U.S. fleet in Leyte Gulf, perhaps a quarter scored a hit or a damaging near miss.

The parallels with the Sept. 11 hijackers are eerie. Though it wasn't meant to return, a kamikaze plane was usually fully fueled, since the fuel-air explosion could do...